Rugby Football Union president John Owen came to his position at the head of the English game after serving as a county official in Cumbria for 23 years.

A fly-half for Kendal and Penrith in the 1960s and 1970s, he served as a police officer and also represented the force as a player - captaining them for six years. In 1997 he was elected as the representative for Cumbria to the RFU, and in 2003 he joined the RFU management board and took a role as chairman of community rugby.

He ascended to the presidency in 2009, and immediately became chairman of the RFU's 'Image of the Game' task group in the wake of the damaging 'Bloodgate' scandal.